Creative launches X-Fi Notebook

Yesterday, Creative announced its latest addition to the X-Fi range of products, the Sound Blaster X-Fi Notebook and although this one isn't Creative's first X-Fi branded notebook product, it stands out by having built-in wireless audio streaming.

The soundcard itself comes in an ExpressCard 34 form factor, which should allow it to work in just about any notebook, unlike the older X-Fi Xtreme Audio Notebook which only works in ExpressCard 54 slots. Creative supplies a small plastic insert with X-Fi Notebook that allow for a better fit in notebooks with ExpressCard 54 slots.

The X-Fi Notebook only has analog in and outputs, and as such only has a pair of 3.5mm jacks which allows for something like a headset to be attached. However, thanks to its wireless audio streaming feature, you can purchase one of Creative's Wireless Receivers and you can stream audio from your notebook to your stereo or speakers up to 30m away and you can use up to four receivers at once.

The X-Fi Notebook supports all the standard X-Fi features, such as the X-Fi Crystalizer and CMSS-3D, although it only offers EAX 4.0 rather than 5.0 as on the better desktop cards. You also get a free downloadable copy of PowerDVD with full DTS and Dolby Digital decoding.

The X-Fi Notebook has a MSRP of €79.99 and should be available by the end of this month, while the Wireless Receiver will retail for the same price when it becomes available sometime in the middle of October.